The end of ISIS

By Gwynne Dyer Feb. 11, 2019

It could be a year yet before the wars that have ravaged the greater Middle East since the American invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 finally die down, but it will come, writes columnist Gwynne Dyer.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week said that he plans to formally announce that ISIS has been completely defeated this week. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

LONDON, U.K.—Donald Trump last week said: “It should be formally announced sometime probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate.” Well, it is next week now, and by the weekend, Trump will probably have made exactly that announcement. He will be right, too: ISIS as a major threat has been defeated for good.

Gerald Butts has removed himself from the daily political grind of strategizing how to keep the Liberals in power. But observers say it's unlikely he will be consigned to watch the campaign unfold from the sidelines.

SNC-Lavalin risks a takeover if it's convicted. But aside from likely outrage in Quebec, Ottawa can find other builders for its infrastructure plans if the company is banned from bidding on federal contracts, experts say

The Quebec company had extensive access to government ministers and top staffers, and was the only organization registered to lobby for allowing deferred prosecution agreements for white collar crimes.